Baby Quilt -- Done!

Beth's baby's quilt is done! And I must say, I love it!

If I had a passion for vintage airplanes, I might just keep it for myself :)

It started as this

Super Yoshi to the rescue!

Time to sew the puffs -- all 64 of them.

stuffed puff!

64 stuffed puffs!

Blanket with brown, satin binding. I hated it, ripped it out, and came up with a new idea:

Pull the back around to the front and make IT the binding!

Center 64 squares

Back and Front together!

Cannot wait to give it to baby boy in October!

After this quilt and Jack's wall hangings for HIS airplane nursery,

I think I could start a baby airplane Esty site :)

Goodnight all!

Warmly,

Emily

Birthdays, disasters and 9/11

Good evening!

My birthday was this past Thursday, and Peter's was the 18th,

so we celebrated:

Then, on Tuesday, there was a bit of an earthquake. Weird. I was on my lunch break at work, outside on a bench, and after I convinced myself I wasn't having a panic attack, but the bench was indeed shaking, I realized what was happening. Our building was shut down, and we all went home early. BUT everything checked out fine, and aside from a lot of stuff falling off the top of some of our shelves, it was like nothing ever happened.

Then we had a hurricane. Apparently. It appeared to be more of a large rainstorm from where we live, and we didn't lose power or trees or cars, but I do feel for those who are experiencing loss.

Earlier yesterday, before Hurricane Irene was set to arrive, I drove the 3 hours up to Shanksville, Pa., the site of the crash of United 93, for work. I read all about what the passengers went through in those terrifying final moments, and thought a little too much about it all and how scary it must have been. The memorial promises to be very beautiful when it is complete in 2014.

That white wall is phase 1 of 3 for the memorial. It has the names of all 40 passengers and crew who were killed (excluding the hijackers). If you follow the wall down, that's the flight path that United 93 came in at. 50 feet off the ground, upside down, before crashing at the end of that mowed grassy region. The crater created by the crash was filled in once the remains of all 40 passengers and the hijackers were identified. Closure that loved ones from the Twin Towers and the Pentagon may never have. It is coming up on the 10-year anniversary of this tragic day, and sometimes I still cannot believe it ever happened. But at the same time will never forget.

Please take the time to look at the websites for the memorials being created in remembrance of the heroes of 9/11:

Pentagon Memorial 

Flight 93-Shanksville Memorial 

Twin Towers Memorial 

Warmly,

Emily

sweet sewing for sweet friends

I really wish Summer wouldn't slip by so quickly!

I seem to have a lot of works-in-progress at the moment. Fall weddings are approaching, so I've been doing those invitations, and now the programs/reception decor that follows. I've also been having WAY too much fun with my sewing machine.
Check out this little darling in her "pillowcase" dress:

too cute for words!

Also, my dear friend Beth is having a baby SOOOO soon! Beth and I met in 2005 when we were both randomly put together in a dorm for intern housing. I was an intern at the Washington Times, and she interned at a senator's office, which basically means she gave Capitol tours all day, every day. We've managed to see each other quite frequently since then :)

January 2007

Summer 2008

Beth's birthday. April 2009

Beth's wedding, Jan. 2010

 Here it is 6 years later, and I've watched her meet and fall in love with Jason. I went to her wedding in Kansas, and now I will be heading back to Kansas to see her new baby once he pops out! Of course, Auntie Em cannot show up without a little something for the little guy, so I'm working on this super adorbs puff quilt, also called a biscuit quilt.
The tutorial can be found over at Honeybear Lane.

This is the center section

It now has a 4 inch denim border, and tonight I have to sew on the brown binding :) Oh, and the back is incredibly sweet -- my favorite part. Baby's nursery is blue, brown and red with vintage airplane accents, so I found this gorgeous fabric and snatched it right up:

Way too excited about this find

Yoshi was a real big help during the process, too! Every time I sit down to sew, he jumps up on the chair next to me and sleeps. Which is hugely distracting, because I always want to squish him.

Zzzzzzzz...

I'm heading off to Shanksville, Pa., on Saturday to do a multimedia project on the 9/11 Memorial there (I can't believe it's been 10 years!).
And I have my Annapolis 10-miler on Sunday.

Hope your weather is as gorgeous as it is here in DC!

Warmly,

Emily

Thankful Thursday

It's time for another Thankful Thursday linky with Blissfully Burton

What am I thankful for today?

1. These adorable children and their ever-so-thoughtful mom, Nicole. I mean really -- A totally unnecessary birthday card and gift brought such a huge smile to my face yesterday :)

(Grace and Jack)

 (their baby sister. Due Nov. 28)

THANKS Gracie and Jackity Jack! And "Soap"!!

2. A fun weekend planned. Going to see "The Help" with Julie tomorrow.

And an awesome new doggie park followed by pool day and grilling on Saturday.

3. My besties. These peeps would support me through anything. And have already.

Jules

Steph (and hubs Steve)

Barb, Steph, Kim and Me

 4. Food and water. Given the recent drought circumstances in the Horn of Africa and Southern U.S., I am reminded of how lucky I am to be able to eat and drink when I want and live under an air conditioned roof. Please keep all those suffering in your thoughts.

Have a glorious Thursday, friends!

Warmly,

Emily

ABC play mat!

Whatever could it be?

Grace and Jack's ABC play mat!

Nicole came to me and asked that I put this together to help her kiddos learn their colors, animals and ABCs. I always love bustin' out the ol' sewing machine, so I did just that and got to work!

With her baby number 3 on the way, I hope it finds happy feet for years to come!

Love those kids!

Warmly,

Emily

"pillowcase" dress and fun fabrics

I read all about these pillowcase dresses and thought it sounded like such a fun project for me to try out on all my friends who have little girls. After searching around EVERYWHERE for cute pillowcases, I gave up and bought fabric samples from JoAnns. It turned out to be MUCH cheaper than buying pillowcases AND I could even mix and match to my heart's content :) I made 5 dresses in all, and got happier with each one I did. Here is Samantha debuting her dress:

And her little sis Meredith with hers:

And dresses for Reese and Grace, too!

JoAnns has these awesome little fabric pieces for $1.99. They measure 18"x24" and are pretty much perfect for these dresses.

I bought a whole bunch of them to make an ABC blanket-game for Grace and Jack:

I have the blanket/gameboard sewn. Now I just have to iron on all the fun letters and pictures.

Warmly,

Emily